tank build......(update got lights)

[chunkofocean125]

hello all....

Im new to the reef world and loving it sofar.
My tank has been running for about 5 weeks. i came home today to find a rust colored coating starting on everything in the tank. (live rock, heater glass, top of sand, all have this build up. it wasnt there yesterday or atleast not this visible for me to notice but today WOW.....

Does anybody here have an ideal of what it could be?
I must add that in the tank presently i have about 3 red leg crabs alive( 4 died one by one in past week and a half....6 blue leg crabs and a damsel fish that was giving to me with the live rock i bought used from someone who had just closed down there tank and also worked at big al's. rock was very very nice and sat in a tub with jet and heater for 2 months before putting in new tank....

any help would be crateful..
Thanks...Marc

[acers]

Hi Marc

From my experience the red algea is a normal cycle in a new tank.  Keep up with the water changes and don't overfeed and it should clear up.  I have nassareus snails that mix up the sand and I found that helped.

Blue legs are likely the culprit in your dead crabs they are very agressive.

Good Luck

[Darth]

could be just diatoms, just a part of the cycle it should clear in a few days

[Bob P]

Sure sounds like diatom algae bloom. It's normal for a new tank.
Diatoms feed off the silica in your new salt mix. When silica is used up
by the algae, it will dissapear normally. A week or two.
I assume you mixed all new saltwater when you started up?
Hermits may have starved in such a new tank.
Just seem odd that diatoms took so long to start, 5 weeks. That could be
because your live rock was in good shape, filtering nasties, and slowed the
process a bit.

[chunkofocean125]

Thanks for the reply....
Yes i did do a complet new water salt mix. i bought a four stage ro system also to help with water quality for the initial mix...

i just finished doing a 35gallon water change to help. the other thing im taking into consideration is i only have 3 powerheads (all 1400gph each). plus my 600gph return from sump. i dont think thats enought water movement....im thinking of maybe getting two more 1400gph power heads to help with that.

i also just installed my homemade lights just 8 days ago.( 2-Home Depot 4 foot(double tube) floresants installed side by side with there highest k rating available.(6400k) i think...... could that of started it?  its on a 12 hour timer...

Thanks again for all ur help.

[Severum]

No way to tell whether your flow is good enough unless we know the size of your tank. Its too much for a 10 gallon but not enough for a 300 gallon...

You're probably going to have to rethink your lighting. The thing that 6500K is good for growing in saltwater is pretty much algae. If you plan to have corals those bulbs will give you terrible coloring. You should be aiming for 14000K and higher.

[Darth]

12 hours is a long photo period for fish only and with 6400k bulbs I am assuming you keeping fish only

[Bob P]

At any rate, ease up on the water changes for now.
Give the tank time to cycle without addding a bunch of new salt mix
to feed the diatoms more. And for sure back off on the light cycle.
So far it sounds like there is nothing in your tank that requires any
light at all. Your damsel is o.k. in the dark.

[chunkofocean125]

Wow.... thanks for all the info..... great comunity u got here....

Ill start at the beginning.... I have a 125g long(6') w/ dual (diy) drilled overflows boxes witch lead to my 45g (breeder tank) diy sump with a slow flow refugium section, skimmer section(getting on when i can afford it., fast flow refugium section and return section.

-------------------------------------------------
l overflow   l                        overflow l              l
l    drop     l                             drop  l   return   l
l               l         slow fuge               l    pump   l
l               l                                     l              l
l               l ------------------------- l              l
l               l  l  l                                l              l
l               l  l  l                                l              l   
l  skim       l  l  l      fast fuge              l              l
l               l  l  l                                l              l
l               l  l  l                                l              l
-------------------------------------------------

the reason behind the lights was because my live rock have BEAUTIFUL coral line algae. nice purples blue red......i mean gourgous. so i wanted to save them till i can aford a proper lighting system(im looking in getting the unit with t5 bulbs, timer, night light etc...699.00)

im not much of one for the computer so im going to play with this picture posting stuff to figure it out.( i have my whole set up on my camera. once i figure it out ill try to post them to show u guys my set up. im very proud of my accomplishments with this project and would like to share with you's.

i just have one question tho..... presently i have filter socks on my two overflow drains dumping in my sump.....should i have more than that filtering or is that enought....( like should i have a filter pad or somthing instaled somewhere in my sump set up?

Thanks alot....
Marc

[ordi260]

i just have one question tho..... presently i have filter socks on my two overflow drains dumping in my sump.....should i have more than that filtering or is that enought....( like should i have a filter pad or somthing instaled somewhere in my sump set up?

Personally, I would'nt put more sponge or filter socks.  Just make sure to change / clean it often and you should be fine!

[Hookup]

IMO filter socks are a great thing.  I have them on my sump line and on my skimmer line.  I change them every two days and they are dirty!   They work so well.

Sounds like a great setup.  Looking forward to the photos.

Why a slow and fast fuge?  I do not think I've heard of that before.

[Darth]

to upload photos you need to get photo hosting site like photobucket, upload the photo there and they actually give you the img tags to post them in forums

[chunkofocean125]

the reason behind the slow and fast fuge is that  it doesnt really affect anything in the flow aspect, cause both drains land to the skimmer portion but later on when i need somewhere to grow my frags or different types of macro algae ill have that separet compartment in my sump to do so....or also can be used to slowly introduce my new friends to there new water. also another reason i came up with was that the longer the travel threw the sump system the better for the water no?? gives time for the water to get filtered........

[Bob P]

Bingo on the slow fuge!
IMO Longer in the refuge chamber is good.
Mines a separate tank from the rest of the sump system.
With a ball valve to control flow. Water takes 2-3 hours to
cycle through.

[chunkofocean125]

as promissed....pics

[JetJumper]

Looks good!  But the lights have got to go!.. Can't use those to get good colours.  It will promote a lot of Algae growth as well.

[Hookup]

I like the purple room!  LOL... very cool!

Things look nice and clean.  Great beginnings.

[chunkofocean125]

lol.....that room was going purple no matter what (wife had it set, so to compensate i said fine but i pick the purple....
( the manliest purple i can find that wasnt to dark) its a walk threw room that leads to the master bedroom on the third floor.(basicly its the attic space of a 1900 style house turned into living quarters(master bedroom, walk threw area, full washroom/laudry room.so all this to say.....if those walls up there are purple, whos going to see it......Unless i take pics..... ...

Marc

[Hookup]

lol.....that room was going purple no matter what (wife had it set, so to compensate i said fine but i pick the purple....
( the manliest purple i can find that wasnt to dark) its a walk threw room that leads to the master bedroom on the third floor.(basicly its the attic space of a 1900 style house turned into living quarters(master bedroom, walk threw area, full washroom/laudry room.so all this to say.....if those walls up there are purple, whos going to see it......Unless i take pics..... ...

Marc

Manly purple... LOL... 

[chunkofocean125]

what can i say.........

[salvini55]

purple is da bomb dont hate! lol thats a nice system you got goins ons

[chunkofocean125]

thanks for the compliments everybody....im a big diy type of guy. i try to make everything i can to save money and for that satisfaction of knowing i did what others like...

my next project is going to be a protein skimmer. ive got an ideal of what to use (chrismas shooping helped alot seing how u look at everything in the stores) i think ive come up with a mixture of different items that once put together( like this plastic vase i saw at walmart) for the cone shape etc.....

ill keep you's posted on this build.....

[Darth]

wish I was a diy I would love to build a stand for my 56gal that could house a sump, the stock stand sucks there is no room for a sump, maybe a 5 gal LOL , but I stink (self edited for worry of using offensive words ) with my hands. It would take me like a week to build something from Ikea LOL

[JetJumper]

It would take me like a week to build something from Ikea LOL

Oh my.. :|  Time for Canada's Worst Handy man for training

[Hookup]

wish I was a diy I would love to build a stand for my 56gal that could a sump, the stock stand sucks, but I suck with my hands. It would take me like a week to build something from Ikea LOL

Ok, now with "Manly purple" and "I suck with my hands" I vote this as thread of the year... well done...

ROTFLMAO

[Darth]

Oh my.. :|  Time for Canada's Worst Handy man for training

yes I would win hands down LOL

[JetJumper]

Ok, now with "Manly purple" and "I suck with my hands" I vote this as thread of the year... well done...

ROTFLMAO

hahhaa.. Do I have to report a post like this?   I think it might be over PG-13 rating.. :O

[Hookup]

Don't report me

I just call'em like I see'em.  Haha

[Darth]

too late ( I edited my post to make me look innocent) sorry for reporting you guys, but I did what I had to do

[JetJumper]

too late ( I edited my post to make me look innocent) sorry for reporting you guys, but I did what I had to do

haha, I was just teasing

[Darth]

we are gonna get reported for hijacking this thread LOL

[chunkofocean125]

all a guy is trying to do is share his project with others......
and what i end up with is having to explain my manly purple and get caught up with this suck hand thing.....lol
Then to top it all off my build thread gets highjacked.......

But all is forgiven is i get thread of the year with only 10 posts......lmao

[White Lightning]

Good on ya for finding the manly purple!

Nice start! Now you should find a purple background for the tank. Or just switch up the lights and cover the black glass with purple coraline algae. 

[Timm3h]

What are you costs to date if you dont mind me asking?

I am looking to do a similar setup

[chunkofocean125]

well im going fish shopping this weekend finally   

all readings are good. cycled for 2 months, crabs doing good so its time.

im planning on buying a pair of baby clowns (dont know where to get them yet) but should i buy some cleaner shimp at the same time...

[chunkofocean125]

well i bought two clowns and a cleaner shrimp last night. The sad part is that i had to get the damsel out because he was attacking the clowns. And to do that i had to take all me scape apart to catch him
Now he's in the sump for now and im stuck rebuilding my entire scape tonight...

[Bob P]

The good news i you got the devil fish out.

[JetJumper]

well i bought two clowns and a cleaner shrimp last night. The sad part is that i had to get the damsel out because he was attacking the clowns. And to do that i had to take all me scape apart to catch him
Now he's in the sump for now and im stuck rebuilding my entire scape tonight...

I feel for you. I had to do the same thing when I setup my first tank.  Still have the damsel though.  He eats the scraps in the fuge.

[chunkofocean125]

well i must say adding those two other ph did a big difference in the tank. total of 4 korila 4's
I also redid all my scape so all is good for now. couldnt get it the same as before for the life of me.
will take pics later tonight of the new scape and fish

[chunkofocean125]

YAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY we got lights........We bought 2-36" tek 6bulb t5 fixtures for our 125g.
The fine folks at RAYS even let us go home with every bulb under the sun to find our perfect setup.Thanks again Ray.
After 2hours of changing bulbs we finnaly agreed on our lighting choice.(for now)lol lol
So they go like this...........from front to back.........

UV super actinic
ATI blue plus
ATI blue special
UV 454
Giesemann power crome actinic+
ATI blue plus

The first and last bulbs are our dusk and dawn setting. Ill be taking picks and posting soon.

[Darth]

that is awesome marc, can't wait to see more pics with the lights on sorry wasnt' here when you called had to go to the general tonight will try and give you a shout tomorrow

[chunkofocean125]

I just got back from droping off my neice at cheo.

[Darth]

I just got back from droping off my neice at cheo.

hope everything is okay